新華嚴經論 10.3

10.3

Second, from the assembly of bodhisattvas such as the Bodhisattva Sāgaracandraprabhāsamātura down, including the second group below of the nine assemblies of spirits such as the vajra-bearing spirits, they explain the cause and effect of the ten abodes. Why is this so? Sāgaracandraprabhāsamātura is also of the retinue of Samantabhadra; the reason for dividing them under different names is to show that it is still through the practice-gate of Samantabhadra within the Buddha's fruition stage that one enters the secular world to benefit beings, their names differing according to their practices. Since one enters the secular world to benefit beings through the Dharma of Samantabhadra's practice jointly practiced by all Buddhas within the Buddha's fruition stage, those capable of being benefited still attain the old Dharma without shifting from the old practice. For this reason, the differently named bodhisattvas such as Sāgaracandraprabhāsamātura within the stage of Samantabhadra are taken to be the initial mind of the ten abodes. This explains that cultivating the ten faiths from the stage of an ordinary person, one has faith that the fruition of the correct awakening of all Buddhas is not different from the fundamental purity of one's own mind, which is identical to the nature of all Buddhas. All conceptual discrimination is fundamentally pure, which is called unsupported wisdom. Like the fundamental wisdom of all Buddhas, sealed with the unconditioned seal of the dhyāna-pāramitā, it naturally accords with the nature of the dharmadhātu; the practices performed are Samantabhadra's practice, and motion and stillness are non-dual; the wheel of Dharma turned thus accords and identifies with the wisdom of the Buddhas of the ten directions without difference. Cultivating and habituating in this way until mature, correct awakening does not shift, for its foundation is one; it converges with the former awakening of all Buddhas, for the fundamental wisdom is of the same nature; and practice after practice does not shift, for it is the former practice of Samantabhadra. For this reason, taking the ten assemblies of differently named bodhisattvas such as Sāgaracandraprabhāsamātura within the assembly of Samantabhadra serves to accomplish the initial mind of the ten abodes, showing that the initial mind of the ten abodes does not depart from the wisdom of the old Dharma. Thus the text below says: "At the time of first giving rise to the mind, one immediately attains correct awakening." Furthermore, regarding Bodhisattva Sāgaracandraprabhāsamātura, the sūtra text below in the praise of virtues upon attaining benefit says: "Furthermore, Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva Sāgaracandraprabhāsamātura attained the liberation gate of skillful means of giving rise to all grounds and all pāramitās of bodhisattvas, teaching and transforming sentient beings, and adorning and purifying all Buddha lands." This shows that by means of Samantabhadra's practice, he accomplishes sentient beings' entry into the dharmadhātu of the Buddha's great wisdom and practices the teaching-gate of gradual cultivation through the five stages of Samantabhadra's practice; hence, from the fruition practice of Samantabhadra entering the secular world, he is named Sāgaracandraprabhāsa. Together with those below, they form ten assemblies, used to establish the gate of the stage of the bodhisattvas of the ten abodes. The nine assemblies of spirits below, down to the spirits governing medicines, explain the fruition practice of entering the ten abodes. Because they match the truth upon entering the ten abodes, they are called "spirits." This explains that a bodhisattva who enters the stage unites with the Dharma that responds to truth, thereby becoming a spirit: because they protect and nurture sentient beings, and because they freely rescue beings through their spiritual penetrations of wisdom, they are called "spirits"; they are not worldly ghosts and spirits. The spirits and devas that follow subsequently show that through progressive enhancement in the five stages of cultivation, they gradually attain greater sovereignty. Taking these bodhisattvas, spirits, and devas collectively to explain the ten abodes: all the bodhisattvas who have entered the stages above gather in beings according to their own stages, through the sovereign practice of cause and fruition; hence they are not spirits of the ghost realm. If one's own mind penetrates principle and does not unite with delusion, its wisdom is naturally spiritual; without deliberate thought, its wisdom skillfully penetrates the myriad things. These assemblies of spirits are all assemblies through which the Tathāgata gathered in beings and brought benefits through the practices of the five stages; he in turn takes the sequential forms, teaching-gates, and rituals as a model, enabling subsequent practitioners to imitate them one by one, skillfully knowing cause and effect.